Valentine's Disaster
by 808Lionfire
Summary: Levy bumps into an interesting stranger on the way home and since her best friend refuses to find a date for Valentines... well, let's just say it's a blind date and that she's determined to see it through. No matter what her boyfriend says. (Late Valentine's Short-story)


****A/N: It has come to my attention that since I'm writing an AU, it's possible that the characters can be a little OOC. So I'm fully taking advantage of that. And I just watched the new '413 Days' episode and OH MAI GAWD my ElfEver ship has sailed! Not just them though! I'm seriously Fangirling, haha! I was waiting for this episode for, like, ever.****

****Happy _extremely_ late Valentines Day, everyone (It was supposed to be a Valentine's Special but there were one too many things popping up)! I hope you're better than this hopeless romantic who, instead of going out on VD and is perfectly fine being single, is writing this story and watching/writing the non-existent love lives of non-existent (or should I say Fictional) characters. I guess you can say I was on a Valentines date with my computer and my phone. And as awkward and as two-timing as that sounds, that's my life, haha! ****

****Enjoy and as always, see you in the next one! -808Lionfire****

****Disclaimer: Fairy Tail (c) Hiro Mashima****

* * *

****Overview:**** Modern!AU. Characters will seem OOC (as stated in the A/N) and will be Rated T because Gajeel and language. Genre: Humor/Romance/Friendship along with some Adventure/Family. This wasn't originally going to be a Valentines one-shot (now it's going to be a Valentines Day short-story since the first chapter would have exceeded 6k words . I know, I type way too much) but I forgot it was Valentines so I just altered it so yeah.

****Summary:**** Levy bumps into an interesting stranger on the way home and since her best friend refuses to find a date for Valentines... well, let's just say it's a blind date and that she's determined to see it through. No matter what her boyfriend says.

****Parings:**** Nastu/Lucy, Gajeel/Levy

* * *

_Valentine's Disaster_

"I'm serious, Lu-chan!"

The tiny bluenette whined as she followed after her blonde best friend, a playful pout on her lips. Her best friend just rolled her eyes and fished out their apartment keys from her purse. The blunette continued to pester the woman, occasionally tugging on her sleeve and ducking into her vision. Doing anything to get her attention to sort of apologize, slash, sort-of convince her to reconsider her answer. She knew that if she kept this up for maybe another five minutes or so, the blond would finally sit down (on their _extremely_ comfy couch by the way) and finally listen to what she had to say. Honestly, that's all she wanted!

"Levy..."

Oh, she knew that tone. She _really_ knew that tone. It's the tone of her blonde friend nearly giving in! Now she just had to change her tactics from a cutesy, bothersome younger sister, to a stern and pleading best friend. It'll work. Watch.

"Lucy, _please_? Just hear me out?"

The blonde sighed, unlocking the door, "Why, Levy? I told you why I didn't want to go out tonight."

"And I get that!" The blunette immediately replied, following her into the apartment,"But come on, Lu-chan! You haven't been on a date since Bora!"

"That was only last year, by the way," The other woman shuddered, remembering that _exact_ day, "_And_ I hated his guts. Then some random guy crashed it anyway. Thank God."

"You're proving my point!" Levy cried out.

"That Disaster Date was on Valentines, Levy," Lucy argued, "And it was also a set-up by you."

"That was actually Juvia who set it up but she did say that you would hate him," The smaller woman haphazardly kicked off her shoes, ignoring the stern glare from the blonde as she walked further into the apartment. Lucy just sighed and fixed their shoes, "But I did warn you."

"And I listened," The blonde straightened, dropping her stuff on the living room table before sinking into the couch, "I hated him before I met him and I hated him while on the date. I hated him afterwards and the only thing I enjoyed on that 'date' was when the guy tripped and splatted his entire dessert on Bora's ugly, arrogant face. I didn't even bat an eye when I told the waitress that I'd pay for that guys dinner and his dessert replacement."

"I still don't believe it," Levy folded her arms and sinking next to the blonde, "You were short on cash that day and you didn't even want to by me an ice cream cone."

"It was the only way I could thank him," Lucy shrugged, "Bora made a huge deal out of it and got security to drag the guy away before I could say it in person. So, I payed for his meal and brought back the receipt as proof."

"It was a pretty large number."

"I had to dip into my savings."

THe blunette turned and eyed her friend, "You could have just asked him out instead or told him you'd pay for his meal."

"Because that would be an _amazing_ idea," The blonde drawled sarcastically, "I'm not an initiator and what would I say anyway? '_Thanks for dumping your dessert on my date. Hey! Why don't you join me? I'll pay for your_ _meal_.'? Yeah, I don't think 's bad enough that I said it to the waitress right in front of Bora's face. I'm sure if I actually said that to him, he'd call me a weirdo or something."

Levy frowned, "But you'd probably have better company."

"I guess that would be true," She shrugged, "But you saw the receipt and I doubt he could eat all of that by himself. He could have probably been on a date of his own or on a group date. It _was_ Valentines Day."

"Can't argue with that."

"Nope."

"But I can argue that you'll love this date!" Levy immediately widened her eyes pleadingly and stared at her best friend. The blonde glanced at her from the corner of her eye, "I promise Lu-chan. I just met him the other day, but I know this guy personally through Gajeel and he's funny and kind and a lot of other things you look for in a guy."

Lucy dropped her head back into the couch and stared up at the ceiling before letting out a groan, "Okay, fine. I noticed that you said '_a lot of other things_' instead of '_everything_' but I'll listen."

The blunette let out a screech, "REALLY!?"

"Yes, Levy-chan," The blonde winced, "I'm not promising anything. Just... just explain and stop screeching."

"Okay, okay," She took a few calming breaths and shifted in her seat so she was facing the other woman, "But I have to warn you, he can be a little eccentric." Lucy gave her a flat stare, not liking him already. "Well first off, he's almost always excited and he's a little bit of a troublemaker-"

"_Great_."

"-He's also Gajeel's cousin-"

"Oh God. That's really comforting. Really."

"-and he may or may not have a criminal record?"

"LEVY!" The blonde shot up in her seat, her bewildered eyes firmly set on her best friend, "I thought you were trying to convince me that he was actually _worth_ going out with! The only thing you're convincing me is that I'm going to DIE if I do!"

The bluenette laughed (like, stomach clenching laughter) at her while she sulkily sank back into the couch, "I-I'm sorry Lu-chan! B-but your f-face!"

"Not funny," She frowned, "You know I hate jokes like that."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I wasn't joking," Levy giggled, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. At Lucy's groan, she laughed again, "But he's a good guy, I promise! He's a little bit of an idiot, but he'll make you laugh and make sure that you're happy. He'll protect you no matter how proud or how strong you are. He's stubborn and he might not always say the right things but he means well. He's easy to trust but that's okay, he's trustworthy. And, I don't know," The blunette gave the blonde a soft smile, "He's someone that I could see you loving."

"Loving?" The blonde reared back and eyed her hesitantly, "Levy. I'm sure this guy is great, I mean, he sounds great but let's not get ahead of ourselves. This date could go horribly bad and-"

"_This date_?" Levy squealed, "So does that mean you agree?!"

Lucy's eyes widened at her slip up and she mentally face palmed, "I-I mean I guess but-"

"Then you better get ready!" The tiny bluenette shot to her feet and pulled the blonde to her feet with surprising strength, then started to push her towards he room, "He's going to be here in an hour and you're not going to be ready."

"In and hour?" Lucy dug the heels of her feet into the carpet and turned to look at the the smaller woman over her shoulder, "Levy, what would you have done if I said no?"

Levy smirked, "I knew you'd say yes."

"No. Seriously."

"I knew you'd say yes," The bluenette shrugged before pushing harder, "But even if you said no, I'm sure his looks would have made you agree."

"Wow," The blonde frowned, finally letting the smaller woman push her towards her room, "Do you really have to make me sound that shallow? Looks aren't everything to me."

"I know, but you always said that you wanted the full package and..." She trailed, "Well, he's got it."

"Wait, aren't you going out with Gajeel?"

"Yeah? Your point?"

Lucy rolled her eyes as she was successfully pushed into her room, "We'll you seem hell bent on praising this dude. I haven't heard you once compliment your boyfriend as much as this. Ever."

"He doesn't deserve it." This made Lucy laugh. Levy grunted and with one last push into the room, she walked back towards the door, "Okay. So I'll leave you to your thoughts while I go get ready for my romantic date with Gajeel's amazing presence."

The blonde smiled, "I thought he didn't deserve it."

"He doesn't, but I love him, so that makes it worth the effort."

* * *

Lucy just finished straightening out her hair and dress when the their intercom buzzed. The blonde quietly walked towards the machine and answered call, "Hello?"

"Bunny Girl," A deep voice gruffed, "Is Shrimp ready yet?"

"Hello to you too, Gajeel. I'm glad you sound so excited to talk to me," The blonde replied, ignoring the nickname. At hearing the man's groan, she clicked her tongue, "Levy told me she needs another thirty minutes. I could buzz you up here, but I doubt you'd leave want to leave the apartment."

"Oh?" She could hear the smirk in his voice, "So the Shrimp's looking that hot?"

"Please, it wouldn't matter. I've caught you trying to jump her with less."

"Maybe that's because all the nice things were gone by the time you caught us."

"Ew."

"Gihi," Gajeel chuckled, "You deserved that one, Bunny Girl. Are you going to ring us up or what?"

"Yeah, yeah," Lucy rolled her eyes, "Don't get your pantyhose in a bunch."

"Oi! That was one time!"

"Yes. And you were drunk and it was hilarious and I took pictures."

"Wha-"

The blonde sniggered as she quickly cut off the call and punched in the buzzer code. She called out to Levy to hurry before getting a quick drink of water. She made her way to the hallway closet and scrambled through the mass of various sized shoes. Against her better judgement, she wore the same dress that she wore her for last Valentine's Disaster (she couldn't help it. It's her lucky dress). The deep crimson color never faded from when she first got it despite everything the pair went through together. It had deep v-neck and split by her leg but ran down to her ankles.

It was a simple dress but she never took it for granted. It wasn't until last Christmas when she finally found the perfect ruby red shoes to go with it. They were actually out on a Christmas shopping spree because they absolutely remembered to buy gifts and never, ever ended up doing last minute shopping. Never.

"I found it!" Lucy cried in happiness, pulling the heels from the shoe graveyard and hugging it to her chest.

As she started to put them on, there was a loud knock on the door. She sniggered once more before stumbling towards the door, attempting to walk and put her heels on. It was harder than she thought and they were heels so that made them a hundred times more difficult. She then opened the door with half a mind, raising her leg to fix the back of her shoe. She barely noticed her leg innocently slip through the split, it's not like Gajeel would even care. He only had eyes for Levy.

"You know I was kidding Gajeel. Levy made me delete the pictures almost immediately after she stopped laugh-" Lucy finally dared to look up at the man's expression (knowing Gajeel, he would be incredibly pissed off) but almost fell forward in surprise.

No matter who muscly this man was, he was definitely _not_ Gajeel. Gajeel was at least a head taller than him and he definitely did not have pink hair. This man had more boyish features compared to Gajeel's rough, tough glower that he loves to wear so much. And although this man looked really good in a casual suit (As well as Levy's boyfriend does, she had to give him that one), Gajeel would never wear a _scarf_of all things during mid-spring. No, this man was someone she just met recently. This afternoon in fact.

"Natsu?"

The salmon-haired man in front of her straightened in surprise, his eyes quickly darting behind the blonde in confusion before focusing on her, "Lucy?"

"Well you're not Gajeel," She pointed out densely. A second later an embarrassed flush spread across her cheeks as she mentally facepalmed, "Ah, what I mean was that, um..." Lucy awkwardly glanced over her shoulder, praying that Levy would come save her. When her savior continued to prolong her appearance, she turned back to Natsu with a wince, "Wha-what are you doing here?"

"Levy invited me over," Natsu replied with a slight frown before giving the blonde woman a bright grin and casually leaned against the door frame, "I never expected to see you so soon. This is great! Now I could rub it in Loke's face."

Lucy raised an eyebrow, "You're not going to start a fight again, are you?"

"That depends if that stupid lion is going to fight back."

"You and picking fights," She grinned, shaking her head, "I didn't know it was possible to even get kicked off of a bus."

"Really?" Natsu asked curiously, his grin widening, "I've done it a lot of times, it's not that hard."

Lucy smiled, "That's not a good thing."

"Yean, I s'pose it's not," He chuckled, leaning his head against the frame and eyeing her outfit. The blonde blushed a little under her gaze and wrung her hands when his dark eyes locked onto hers again, "You look dressed, am I holding you up from your 'plans'?"

"No, no," She denied, her blonde hair swinging as she shook her head, "I just finished getting ready. I'm not due to leave until another..." she peeked back at the clock before smiling again, "Five minutes or so."

Natsu's smile dimmed just a bit, "Well, you look nice. That's the same dress you wore when we first met."

"What?" The blonde furrowed her eyebrows, "When we first me-"

"Natsu! Lucy!" Levy's voice cut her off, "I see you two met."

The pair turned to look at the tiny bluenette who dressed in a light orange dress that stopped right above her knees. Levy wore her signature bandana but this time, she grabbed whatever hair she could and tied it off into a ponytail, creating a cute bow on top of her head. Her face was also make-up free except for the light mascara she applied to her lashes. She gave them both a charming smile before rummaging through the closet for her matching heels, trying to get at least a few inches taller. With minds alike, they both stared at her suspiciously until she turned back to them, her smile fading almost instantly.

"What?"

Lucy looked away, whistling guiltily but Natsu's lips stretched into a grin, "Metal-face is waiting for you in his car. He told me to say that if you're any longer than twenty minutes, he's making you pay for gas."

"Oh yeah?" Levy raised her eyebrow, "And how long has it been since then?"

"It's been about..." The salmon-haired man trailed off before looking down at the blonde, "What time is it Luce?"

"Hold on a sec," Lucy muttered before searching in her purse. She pulled out her phone and squinted at the light, "It's 6:37."

The pair looked at each other before replying, "Twenty-five minutes."

"Oookay," Levy looked at them both weirdly, "That wasn't creepy at all. I thought you weren't good at math, Natsu."

"Time is easy to tell."

"Well, he can wait a few more minutes," The bluenette shrugged, "I'll just 'forget' my purse the next time we go out." Lucy laughed, already knowing that was what the cheeky woman was going to say. Natsu just grinned with an amused shake of his head, "So it seems you two met each other previously?"

"Just today, actually," Lucy replied, "On the way home from work."

"Really?" The blunette asked, Lucy nodded while Natsu just shrugged, "How convenient then. Well, Natsu, this is my best friend Lucy Heartifilia. Lucy, this is your blind date, Natsu Dragneel. He's also Gajeel's cousin."


End file.
